Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
On January 14, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 236-191 to overturn Obama’s Executive Action Policy that calls for deferred deportation of millions of immigrants currently in the United States. The underlying bill passed mostly on a party-line vote, with 10 Republicans voting against it and two Democrats voting in favor.
The House bill…
Many businesses sponsoring H-1B specialty occupation worker or L-1 intra-company transfer petitions have experienced the frustration of unfair denials. Now, Information published in the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsmen Annual Report 2014 (“Report”) confirms that appeals from these determinations are almost always an exercise in futility.
Cases that are not approved can be appealed to…
The demand for H-1B visas continues to rise. Last year, demand for H-1B exceeded the available number of visas, and a lottery was held to determine which applications would be accepted. Employers should file H-1B applications by April 1, 2015, to ensure consideration for this year’s lottery and an opportunity to obtain a visa under…
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed and President Barack Obama signed the “Cromnibus” bill, approving a legislative budget to fund most government activities through September 2015 over criticism from some House Republicans that the bill did not block President Obama’s Executive Action on immigration (announced on November 20, 2014, parts of which will be effective…
Calling the Department of Labor regulations authorizing employers to use employer-provided wage surveys for prevailing wage determinations (PWDs) for H-2B workers arbitrary and capricious, and finding that they violate of the Administrative Procedure Act, the U.S. court of appeals in Philadelphia has vacated the DOL regulations at 20 CFR §655.10(f) and the Department’s 2009 H-2B…
Texas Governor Rick Perry started December by issuing an Executive Order requiring E-Verify participation by all Texas state agencies and for all businesses contracting with the State of Texas: http://governor.state.tx.us/files/press-office/EO-RP-80_E-Verify_IMAGE_12-03-14.pdf
Citing with approval advancements made with the E-Verify system and Texas and other states’ successes with the federal database, the Order requires all state agencies…
On December 3, 2014, NBC News reportedly obtained a November 3 letter written by Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Stephen Legomsky, Hiroshi Motomura, and Michael Olivas – four distinguished immigration law professors. The professors did not take a position on who should be included in the President’s executive action, but instead advocate that the President is…
Not two weeks after the President announced his executive action on immigration, 17 states, including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, led by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, are challenging the executive action under the U.S. Constitution’s Take Care…
AUTHOR: Robert Neale.
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a “Fact Sheet” on its plans to initiate a review of its PERM Labor Certification Program and accompanying regulations. The review is being conducted as part of President Barack Obama’s recent efforts through Executive Action to reform the country’s immigration system.
The DOL noted that…
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has been extended to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea for a period of 18 months, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s November 20, 2014, announcement. The designation, prompted by the ongoing spread of the Ebola Virus Disease in these Western African countries, allows foreign nationals from these countries who are…
